Cheryl Reeve Meltdown: Jacket-Ripping, Mic-Breaking

Cheryl Reeve is passionate about her WNBA team, the Minnesota Lynx, and when the refs make a bad call, she’s sure not going to let them off the hook for it.

During Game Two of the WNBA finals on Wednesday, Lynx guard Lindsay Whalen was oh-so-close to shooting at the hoop when she was stopped by Indiana Fever guard Briann January, who appeared to smack Whalen’s arm down in an attempt to get the ball. She was successful, and Fever gained control of the ball on a turnover.

Coach Reeve wasn’t about to let that ride. Instead, she jumped up, ripped off her jacket and flung it at someone standing on the sidelines, breaking the microphone attached to the lapel in the process. She had to actually be restrained by assistant coach Jim Peterson, who held her back from confronting the refs on not calling foul.

“We’ve got a lot of league people here. It’s the WNBA Finals. So we have to be really, really careful in the things that we say. Clearly, I wasn’t happy in that moment. I’m not happy about how the game was officiated, period, but that’s all I’m going to say about it,” Reeve said.

Eventually, she and Whalen were both called for technical fouls, but the Lynx went on to win the game 83-71 after their coach’s breakdown.

“It was good to see her fired up,” said Seimone Augustus. “That’s kind of what she does. I think she got like 7 or 8 techs this year, and every time she gets a tech it fires us up.”